A life never led
by Catness
Summary: there has been an explosion in one of the science labs and Dr House and Dr Wilson get hurt. Cuddy has a think about her friendship with them. Small love triangle between Cuddy, Wilson and House. Short Story.


Summary: there has been an explosion in one of the science labs and Drs House and Wilson get hurt. Cuddy has a think about her friendship with them. Small love triangle between Cuddy, Wilson and House.

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A life never led  
By Cat 

The usually beautiful night sky cowardly hid behind the clouds and rain pattered heavily outside. Just as the whole night sky was crying, Dr Lisa Cuddy wiped a tear from her cheek in a grave attempt to hide her true feelings.

With a hesitant sigh, she turned from the window and sat at her desk. It had only been an hour or so since and explosion had reeked havoc throughout one of the hospital's science labs, causing several minor injuries and forcing two of her best doctors- Dr James Wilson and Dr Gregory House- into a critical condition. The majority of the hospital had now been evacuated to a nearby hospital, save for the few patients who were unable to be moved, a few nurses, doctors and herself. Lisa vaguely pondered visiting Drs Wilson and House in the neighboring hospital; however, her expert opinion told her that they probably weren't out of surgery yet. And even they were, it wouldn't do much good to sit in their rooms and watch their unconscious selves. It would take at least a little while longer until their conditions were determined. So thus, Cuddy had gone to her office, the one place she could sit and quietly think without having constant interruptions. A few representatives of the press and a few families of patients had arrived a little while ago and had screamed for recognition and answers to their questions. Lisa didn't know exactly what to tell them, it had been ruled an accident but there was nothing more to really say. It had been enough that there had been an accident at her beloved hospital. She didn't exactly need the recognition from the media; it was strange that they were like hawks just waiting to feed on death and tragedy. It was beyond a joke for them to stick their noses into what didn't concern them; it probably wouldn't do any good for the hospital in the long run, what with people being scared to be in an explosion if going there.

Cuddy shook her head violently and took several deep breaths. "What am I doing thinking about my hospital's welfare when my two best friends are unable to even breathe by themselves?" She muttered angrily to herself. She looked at her office and remembered how they had all gotten to know each other.

It had always been Wilson, House, Stacy and herself. A fantastic foursome of friends they had been. One day at lunch, there had been only a few seats left at the cafeteria tables, so they all found themselves sitting at the same table. The group had started talking and they had things in common and then bang, they were friends. Cuddy sighed dreamily, wishing those were still the days, "funny how those things happen," she muttered quietly to herself. Then one day, House became ill and as his doctor, the responsibility had come to Lisa: take his life or his leg. The surgery was then done, Stacy left that very same night. Perhaps it was the mental anguish of having to look after a crippled man, or perhaps it was the insults he had shouted to all of them when they left the room, or perhaps it was her displeasing relationship with the man. Whatever it was, the Fantastic Foursome had become the Three Musketeers and House had never forgiven Stacy for that. Lisa had never found it in herself to blame Stacy for leaving, she herself would never forgive him for some of the phrases he had shouted at her, but it would be hard to look after a man who didn't want your help.

Months and months drew on. Things were just peachy. House had (surprisingly) been attending rehab, Wilson had just gotten out of his first marriage and Cuddy... was still as lonely as ever. Then one night Cuddy and Wilson had been walking along a deserted corridor, the next thing either of them knew, they were picking up their cloths off the floor of a rarely used storeroom floor. Then rumors had begun floating around about that night, except everyone suspected it was House she had an affair with. Lisa didn't know why they thought it was House. Perhaps it was the way she had always stared at him with the very mention of the affair they didn't have.

When she thought about it, Lisa realised that House and herself really weren't all that different. Neither of them really had any friends while growing up. Cuddy had always been picked on for being such a geek. Straight A's and an unblemished record. "And look where it's gotten me," she told herself quietly. "A moderately dead hospital with only two friends who are perhaps dying at this very instant." However, no friends sort of paid off in the end. Lisa had seen many young teenagers come in from drug overdoses while trying to fit in and then the ones that came in, bleeding from their wrists when they had miserably failed. It was kind of hard for Lisa to try not to think about the times when she had been in their place; being the Dean of Medicine had become a constant reminder of her past lifetime and thus she was able to empathize with quite a few patients.

As she thought about it, she realized that Wilson and herself weren't really that different from each other either. Both work-a-holic souls who desired someone to give their affection and receive it in return. Cuddy hadn't had a boyfriend, let alone all that many dates in years. "Goodness knows," she said aloud, "it's been too long. I need a life."

Over the years, the little group had grown apart: House to his little murky corner of the hospital, Wilson to his highly organized corner and Cuddy to roaming the hospital, looking for unfortunate victims to force into clinic duty. The hospital had literally become Lisa's home away from home; she spent many nights sleeping on the couch in her office and was often eating her meals in the canteen rather than going home and making something herself. She had always found it odd; hospital food didn't taste as bad as it had once done. You get used to it after a while.

Lisa had spent many years trying to establish her position as the Dean of Medicine. And yet, at this very moment she would rather have her two best friends back. The two friends she had spent many of her years at the hospital with, she would have gone insane if it weren't for House's horrible bed-side manner and mentions of 'fun bags', nor Wilson's cool head in disaster in the calm conversations they often had. Lisa used to be able to deal with the loneliness and constant work. But these days it seemed to be a bit sad to have only her secretary say 'Happy Birthday' to her. And at that instant, she decided to start a relationship and a new beginning for herself. She need a break from the constant hours of work and random people telling her exactly what they had been doing at the time of their injury, patients trying to draw attention to themselves and the constant lawsuits and complaints from unhappy patients.

She let the tears run freely once more and there she sat, shuddering with uncontrolled sobs. She sat like that and buried her head in her hands for ten, maybe twenty minutes. Then her office phone rung, breaking through the silence with its monotonous ring. Lisa took a few deep breaths and composed her manner, then putting on her most professional voice, she answered the phone. The call lasted a few moments and then she bid the person on the other ended a calm goodbye. Then she hung up the phone.

Dr Lisa Cuddy, turned to face the window with a big smile upon her face, and upon seeing a beautiful night sky and stars peeking through the layers of cloud, she smiled.

Now she knew everything was going to be ok...

THE END

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AN: once again, another story. Please review: I'd love to hear what you think of it. 


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